Summary of Recommendations

The Carleson Center’s program-by-program review of the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), applying means-tested and means-targeted criteria, identified 127 programs that should be consolidated into seven distinct block grants: Medicaid, Nutrition, Supplemental Security Income for the Disabled, Housing, Cash Welfare Assistance (TANF), Employment and Training, and Community Development.

The review identified another 30 programs that should be eliminated rather than included in a block grant — including programs that merely provide funding for advocacy groups to network, coordinate, and lobby at federal taxpayer expense for increased funding for the vast array of federal welfare programs, instead of providing actual assistance to the needy.

The Carleson Center’s CFDA review identified 157 specific programs that should be part of a broader block grant or eliminated:

127 Programs that cost $529.9 billion in FY 2011 could be redirected to states in the form of block grants:

Medical Assistance — 18 programs totaling $304.8 billion

Nutrition — 24 programs totaling $96.5 billion

Supplemental Security Income for the Disabled — 1 program totaling $52.7 billion